"U.S. Water Utilities Not Prepared for Catastrophe"

"Federal government should have more active role in preparing for natural disaster and cyberattack, report argues."

"Cutting beneath the lower Mississippi River, the New Madrid fault is a T-shaped geological hazard that is primed for a fierce tremor. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake where the fault crosses the Missouri-Tennessee border would be devastating, snapping water distribution pipes and toppling power lines in seven states, as far as 200 miles from the epicenter. About 1.1 million homes would be without water and 2.6 million without electricity, for days, weeks or perhaps months. The shaking would weaken levees and dams, rupture sewage pipes, and isolate communities.

Such a “black sky” event — infrequent but debilitating — would be beyond the capacity of current emergency response, according to a National Infrastructure Advisory Council report on the U.S. water sector’s resilience to natural disaster and cyberattack.

A New Madrid earthquake is one of five disaster scenarios analyzed in the council’s 212-page report to the Department of Homeland Security. The council will meet in Los Angeles on Friday to finalize the recommendations."

Brett Walton reports for Circle of Blue June 23, 2016.